Now that I am trying to stick to a $100/week budget, I also find myself enjoying the challenge of planning meals that keep me within budget. This means using items that I already have, and to be sure to incorporate leftovers into new meals, and using produce before they go bad.
Last week, my meals didn't go according to plan, which I suspected would happen. It was the first week of practices and I wasn't sure how well each meal would work with our time frame. On Wednesday we were supposed to have slow-cooker garlic chicken and pasta salad. We ended up having pasta salad and hot dogs because I realized that by the time we arrived home after baseball practice, it would already be 6:30, and the chicken required extra steps after it finished cooking, so I went with something easier.
I made the southwestern chicken casserole on Friday, however, at the last minute, I decided to use only one of the two chicken breasts that I had thawed out, and make half of the casserole meatless (for me). This left me with an extra chicken breast, so I decided to bump the meatloaf and potatoes from Saturday's plan and made the slow-cooker garlic chicken that night instead. I paired it with brown rice. Monday's meal was supposed to be the hamburger roll-ups, however, I ran into the same problem as I did on Wednesday-the 5:15-6:15 baseball practice does not allow for any meals that require a lot of prep work, especially since it takes us 10-15 minutes to drive to practice (and back again). So I ended up making french toast sticks for the boys, I had cereal, and The Man had leftovers. Quick and easy.
On the plus side, these changes left me with 3 lbs. of ground beef on hand that I could use for this week's meals instead, which meant that I wouldn't have to buy anymore at the store. This was helpful because I was over budget last week, which takes money out of this week's budget. I have also decided to allow myself a $20 budget for non-food items (i.e. tissues, soap, toilet paper, etc.).
Here is how things look for this week:
This week's meals:
Breakfast:
- Brown sugar oatmeal (O eats this every morning. I make up a bulk amount of this, using a whole 32 oz. canister of oats. It usually lasts him two weeks. I have tweaked the recipe from the original source).
- Marshmallow & Stars cereal a.k.a."Lucky Charms" (B eats these religiously. I know that they aren't the healthiest option, but sometimes you just have to give in a little. One box lasts about a week).
- Cinnamon Squares cereal a.k.a. "Life" (This one is for me. I portion it out into 1 cup servings and it will last me a little over a week).
- Overnight oatmeal (me)
- Coffee smoothies (me)
- Honey Grahams cereal (for The Man).
Lunch:
- Leftovers
- Hummus sandwich (for O)
- Any of the following for school lunches:
- applesauce cup
- natural fruit snacks
- granola bar
- cheese stick
- cracker
- apple
- peppers
- juice box
Dinner:
- Tuesday: Hamburger roll-ups (practice @ 6:00)
- Wednesday: Pasta salad (practice @ 5:15)
- Thursday: Spinach & chicken tortilla bake (practice @ 6:00)
- Friday: FREE/leftovers*
- Saturday: FREE/leftovers*
- Sunday: Meatloaf and hash brown potatoes
- Monday: Chicken fajitas in slow-cooker (Practice @ 5:15).
Extras:
- No extras this week
Lunch leftovers from:
- Pasta salad
- Hamburger roll-ups
- Spinach & chicken tortilla bake
- Meatloaf
And here's the $94.20 grocery budget breakdown ($5.80 overage from last week deducted from this week's budget). Items marked with (*) indicate items that I only buy for school lunches. Anything that is italicized is an item that wasn't originally on my list, but I picked up because they were a special buy, or on sale this week. I am choosing to include non-food items in the budget only if they are food related. (I have a $20 budget, before tax, for other non-food items).
From Aldi:
Lactose free milk= $2.79
Vanilla almond milk= $2.49
1 lb. strawberries= $1.89
Marshmallow & Star cereal= $1.99
Cinnamon Crunch squares cereal= $1.69
Chicken breasts= $5.95
French toast sticks= $2.19
Roasted red pepper hummus= $1.99
Animal crackers= $1.29
Bag of gala apples= $3.29
Honey roasted peanuts= $2.59
Pepper jack cheese- $1.99 x 2= $3.98
3 pk. green peppers= $1.89
12-grain bread= $1.89
*100% whole wheat bread= $1.29
*Applesauce cups- $1.59 x 2= $3.18
Crinkle cut potatoes= $1.79
Hazelnut chocolate= $0.99
Total= $43.16
From Walmart:
Golden Grahams cereal= $3.98
Cinnamon Squares cereal= $3.12
24 pk. Quaker granola bars= $4.98
Jar of salsa verde= $1.98
Ricotta cheese= $1.94
Organic vanilla yogurt= $3.54
Fresh salad spinach= $2.38
Bananas= $1.41 ($0.57/lb.)
Bulk Goldfish crackers= $7.48
Total= $30.81
Grand total: $73.97 ($20.23 under budget, ).
Non-Food Items:
From Aldi:
Dish detergent= $1.89
18 pk. double roll toilet paper= $6.99
From Walmart:
2 pk. Glade Plug-In refills- $4.88 x 2= $9.76
Grand total: $18.64 ($1.36 under budget).
Mistakes made: I made a big mistake this week when I bought chicken at Aldi instead of Walmart. I picked up a pack of 3 chicken breasts, thinking that it would be cheaper than Walmart, and also keeping in mind that I only needed that many for our meals this week. Well, it turns out that while the chicken at Aldi was $2.49/lb., the bulk chicken at Walmart is $1.99/lb. So although buying the chicken at Aldi kept me under budget, it would have been more cost-effective in the long-term if I had purchased the bulk package at Walmart, which I usually do anyway.
I had one impulse purchase this week, the hazelnut chocolate, although, in my defense, I did need more dark chocolate squares, but Aldi was out, so I picked these up as a substitute. I also picked up a bag of french fries when I really didn't need to, but I had forgotten to look to see if I already had some before I left. I did.
This week was pretty easy to plan, thanks to the carryover ground beef and two "Free" nights on the schedule. However, we did just find out that O has a lacrosse game tomorrow night, and will have them every Thursday night from now on, some at home, but others away. This is definitely going to put a kink in my plans, but I make it work.
How do you feel about grocery shopping? Stressful? Relaxing? A mini-vacay?
~Boo Boo
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